The chairman of Asda Lord Stuart Rose has warned the government on Tuesday of “unintended consequences” by encouraging supermarkets to place price caps on food.
Lord rose said “you can’t interfere in the markets,” then warned of the “unintended consequences” of “relatively clumsy things.”
It is understood that the government are drawing up proposals for supermarkets to charge their customers the lowest amount for kitchen cupboard essentials such as pasta, milk, cheese and bread.
Rose told journalists, “My view on this is quite simple. I’ve been involved in retail for 50 years, and there’s been all sorts of schemes being followed by all sorts of governments over time about what they think we should be doing to control the market.
“You can’t interfere in the markets, the markets will control themselves. We are a very efficient industry, not just in Asda, across the retail piece.
“We have kept the price of electronics and clothing and food in real terms down to levels that are unprecedented in terms of our ability to be efficient.
So, you know, I think we do a very, very good job for consumers, and if the Government wants to start doing – in inverted commas – ‘relatively clumsy things,’ they need to be careful about the unintended consequences of what they want to do.
“Let the shopkeepers do what they do well: shop keep.”
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said the government’s proposed measures won’t make a “jot of difference” to pricing.
“The British Retail Consortium (BRC) director of food and sustainability, Andrew Opie said, ‘Rather than recreating 1970s-style price controls, the Government should focus on cutting red tape so that resources can be directed to keeping prices as low as possible.”
